GMOs not harmful. Are consumers ready to pay?

Are GMOs harmful? Are consumers willing to pay more at the grocery store to have GMO foods labeled? These are just two of the questions Holly Spangler, Farm Progress publications, addresses in her recent series about GMOs.

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GMOs are not harmful. That’s the conclusion from Ruth MacDonald, a professor at Iowa State who holds a Ph.D. in human nutrition. She’s the source in a recent article by Holly Spangler on farmprogress.com, a sister site to Corn+Soybean Digest.

"There's never been any illness associated, and there's no evidence of long-term effects on human health," MacDonald says. "Consumption of foods with GMO technology are as safe as those grown without. There's no nutritional difference and no risk in genes expressed."

In part two of her series, Spangler delves into the consumer desire for labels, and their willingness to pay more to have that happen. She talked to Jayson Lusk, ag and food economist at Oklahoma State University about his take on consumers and GMO labels.

"People are much more likely to say they are willing to pay a premium for a product," he says. "People will tell you they're willing to pay twice as much as they actually are."